The Music of You and Me
by rainydays339
Summary: What happens when aspiring musician Renee Dorian meets notorious jokester Fred Weasley? The two must struggle together through a world at war. I swear it's going to be good! Set parallel to OOTP and HPB. Read and review!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Renee.

"Hey pretty little witch, I need another firewhiskey over here" slurred a disheveled warlock from a back booth in the Leaky Cauldron. Renee Dorian looked exasperatedly over at the man who had been hailing her services for the past 10 minutes. A cluster of glasses sat on the table and the man was sinking lower in the booth every minute. Renee signaled to the barman Tom that this man was officially cutoff and made her way over to firmly inform him that it was about time he left. She approached the man, his head now in his hands, shoulders slumped, he looked the epitome of a downtrodden man.

Renee started to say, "Excuse me sir, but I think it's about time that you were leaving." But only got as far as "Excuse me" before the man looked up at her to reveal tears running down his cheeks from his bloodshot eyes to his unshaven chin. Panicking a little Renee started to retreat again before a huge sob wracked the entire body of the man as he wailed "Whhhhhhhhyyy?!? Why would she leave me?"

Renee was torn between laughing at the situation at hand or crying along with the man from pure exhaustion and exasperation.

"You're a woman right?"

Renee did laugh at this. She was pretty darn sure there was no question as to her gender. Her athletic build was offset and complimented by curves in all the right places. And her shoulder length mocha brown hair and deep blue eyes framed by naturally long lashes were most definitely feminine.

He continued without the obvious answer "Was it so wrong of me to tell her she smelled like my mother? I meant it as a compliment!" His words were broken by shuddering breaths and wails, which soon subsided as he crumpled to the table in a dead sleep. Renee just stood and watched as with each intake of breath his less than delicate snores shook the table, causing the glasses surrounding him to clink and teeter about. Renee looked down at her watch, three hours until the end of her shift.

Nearly a year out of school and Renee was hardly where she had hoped she would be. In the top 10% of her class at Beauxbatons School for Magic it had been expected that, much like her classmates, she would go on to intern and work at the Ministry of Magic, Gringotts Wizarding Bank or , to name just a few of the highly acclaimed places her peers had settled in so easily. It wasn't as though Renee enjoyed being greeted with the stale smell of sweat and cheap alcohol everyday at work and it certainly wasn't as if she didn't have ambitions and dreams. She was lacking in a number of things but a dream was definitely not one of them.

Her parents had sent her to Beauxbatons for her schooling because it had been convenient, located halfway between her father's home with his muggle secretary and their four children in Germany and her mother's extravagant house with her third husband (a famous wizarding actor) in Spain. She was never too close, emotionally or geographically, to either of her self-involved parents. Renee however was content being dumped at the elite, aristocratic school at the age of 11 because she knew that it was home to the most prestigious music school in the entire magical world. Growing up Renee was constantly passed between two parents, neither of which particularly wanted the responsibility for the living mistake that they made when they were young and in lust. They neglected and ignored her in the hopes of forgetting a shameful past. She had only ever felt at home and cared for was during the three blessed months of summer when she was living with her paternal grandmother who had retired to a tiny coastal village in Scotland. In those short sunny months Renee was truly happy. Her grandmother Cherie flooded her with affection, food, and possibly most importantly music. Cherie's extensive and antique record collection provided endless hours of fascination and amusement. The eclectic old lady had a love for everything musical that she gladly passed on to her lonely and abandoned granddaughter.

Cherie imparted every ounce of musical knowledge that she had from reading music to picking out increasingly more complicated tunes on her dusty piano in the attic. On Renee's eleventh birthday her grandmother sent her a beautiful cello that had belonged to her grandfather who had been a promising young player in the London Philharmonic until his death in WWII. Renee fell in love with the rich velvety sound of the instrument and made up her mind to learn all she could. Under the instruction of the Beauxbatons music teacher, Luc Islioux Renee's musical abilities grew and blossomed. By her graduation seven years later Renee's musical talents were unparalleled in the school. Nevertheless when it was made clear that Renee didn't intend to find a "suitable" job, but instead chose to freelance in London until she landed a permanent orchestra position, her aloof classmates looked down on her decision.

"Music is simply not an acceptable career choice. If you continue down this fantasy road of yours, following your so called dreams and passions, you will not be able to count on any support of mine" stated a succinct owl from her mother when she caught wind of her daughter's post graduation plans. Her father while not exactly enthused vaguely remembered his own mother's love of music and could at least somewhat appreciate that his daughter might have some talent as a musician. As a result Renee's father sent her the occasional small sum of money when he remembered he had a starving, struggling musician for a daughter.

However despite all of her aspirations Renee was beginning to lose hope. She had been living in a dingy little apartment with her best friend from school Emma Joviet for the past 9 months, working at the Leaky Cauldron and auditioning for various groups. Occasionally she would land a gig subbing for orchestras or playing in some small ensembles but it wasn't what she really yearned for. While her ultimate goal remained to play in the London Philharmonic the past few weeks she just wanted to find a job that was more satisfying than busing tables and serving drinks. It was around that time that one of the shops on Diagon Alley had gone up for rent and Emma had made the suggestion that Renee open up a music shop. The idea was refreshing and new to Renee and gave her a glimmer of light and hope to strive towards. It suddenly became easy to imagine herself managing a small shop selling the usual muggle musical instruments along with the some musical charms and spells of Renee's own invention. So in lieu of her long term goal, Renee started focusing on the short term goal of saving up her galleons to rent and renovate the small space.

It had become habit for Renee to walk past the windows of the shop that she hoped soon to be hers after a long day of work and stare longingly at the empty shelves, imagining them filled with cds, instruments and sheet music. In the past week however she had been so exhausted that she had just apparated straight home. After today's particularly long ordeal that was ridding the Leaky Cauldron of the sobbing man, Renee needed to go look at what could be in her near future.

As Renee approached the familiar storefront she paused as she saw a notice hanging on the door. When she got close enough to read it in the dim light of the street lamps it stated in large flashing multi coloured letters

WEASLEY'S WIZARD WHEEZES

Coming Soon!!!

Renee's imagined dream and hope for a less dismal future was shattered with that notice. Her heart was set on renting a storefront she could no longer have. She felt a thousand different emotions course through her –disappointment, frustration, anger, and incredulity- before she finally settled on despair mingled with rage. Without thinking she reached up and ripped the posting off the door, ripped it into many little pieces and was about to stomp on it when she heard a chuckle from behind her.

"Excuse me, but I'm going to have to ask you to replace that" a voice said.

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**Author's Note: **In the next chapter . . . Fred! Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Renee turned around slowly, a blush creeping up her cheeks, suddenly regretting her impulse act of fury. She looked up from the crumpled pieces of paper in her fists to see a lanky young man, barely containing his laughter, grinning back at her. His coppery hair blazed against the dark night sky and there was something mischievous and intriguing about his twinkling hazel eyes.

"The owners of that shop might not appreciate you destroying their property," he said with an edge of smugness.

"Thanks for that, but I don't particularly care right now" Renee replied sharply. Unexpectedly tears began to sting her eyes as the frustrations and exhaustion of the day and the past few months began to catch up with her. "They took my shop" she tried to explain before the tears welled over and started to run down her cheeks and into the corners of her mouth. She turned away, embarrassed, not wanting some stranger to see her break down. Looking down she felt the salty bitter tears drip off her nose. Suddenly there was a gentle, slightly hesitant hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, hey now. It's alright; it's going to be okay. Besides I'm sure you're much prettier than whoever these Weasley jokers are," the young man said, that interminable smile still playing around his lips. "You know, Florean Fortescue's sugar-coma-inducing Triple Chocolate Explosion Surprise always makes my bad days seem a little better. I'll buy." Whether it was the sincerity in his voice or the genuine concern in his eyes Renee found herself wanting to spill her woes to this complete stranger.

"Alright, that sounds good" she replied, still slightly wary of this charming stranger that she couldn't help but to feel drawn towards.

"Onward and upward!" he cried jumping off the curb. Renee giggled at his antics, her tears long gone. They made the short walk to the ice cream shop and sat down at a small table in front of the shop with two massive ice cream sundaes.

"So tell me, what's your name and why were you defacing that storefront?" the flame-haired young man inquired as they were enjoying their ungodly amount of ice cream on the warm evening in April. So Renee explained, how her plans after school hadn't exactly panned out, and her impossible dream of opening a music shop, and why seeing that that space had been rented out had been a bad end to an even worse day.

"What exactly were you planning on selling in this shop of yours?" the young man asked one eyebrow raised quizzically.

"Well," Renee replied, mirroring his quizzical facial expression, " the usual musical supplies of course"

"Of course," he concurred "it would hardly be a music shop without those sorts of things."

Ignoring his cheeky comment Renee continued, "but along with that I invented a couple of charms and spells that I thought I could try selling."

"Really?" A look of surprise passed over his face. "Like what?"

"Well I invented a charm that would create a soundtrack to your life for up to 24 hours. There are two versions, one only you can hear and the other one makes it so everyone around you can hear the music. It's a little more complicated, and certainly more obnoxious to other people, but most definitely more amusing. My entire room at my apartment is full of prototypes, it's honestly the only thing that keeps me sane from day to day. Oh and there's this fantastic charm . . ."

"Well, well, well then, what do we have here?" A young man identical to the one Renee was sitting across from interrupted her mid-sentence as he strolled up to their table, accompanied by another young man with chocolate coloured skin and cornrows. "The name's George, and what may I ask is a lovely girl like you doing with my dolt of a twin?"

"Yeah, blimey Weasley, she's much too pretty to be seen with an eyesore like you!" the corn-rowed young man stated.

Renee looked at the two young men and then back across the table. "Weasley? As in Coming Soon the Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes?" Renee questioned, utterly bemused and frustrated.

"The one and only" George replied cheerily, "well except for my brother Fred here! Oh and this one's Lee Jordan" He added as an afterthought. Renee started to reply, then shut her mouth again, too confused, surprised and annoyed with herself that she genuinely liked the man who was now renting out the shop when not too long ago she had been determined to hate them for eternity.

"Renee, before you say anything, I just want to say I'm sorry for not telling you who I was right away." Fred said hastily and apologetically. "But really if you were in my position would you? Also to make amends for taking the store away from you, though in all honesty there was no way of knowing that we were, but that's beside the point. What was I saying? Oh yes, I want to offer to sell your products at our shop, with all the credit of inventing given to you of course, that is however if you're willing to perhaps work there as well. What with the shop opening in a week we could definitely use some help with set-up and inventory. That is, if you're interested."

All three young men were looking at her expectantly. Renee felt her cheeks burning with a blush and was frantically trying to weigh the costs and benefits of something so incredibly spontaneous risky but fantastic. She looked back across the table at Fred, who looked back, his hazel eyes full of hope and something else that Renee couldn't explain that made her both scared and excited for a future she couldn't quite envision yet.

And before she knew exactly what she was saying or had thoroughly thought it through she found herself saying, "Yes, that sounds fantastic, of course I'll come work at your shop."

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**Author's Note**: Tell me what you think! Should I keep going?


	3. Chapter 3

Things moved fast the next couple of weeks for Renee. Her first major act of liberation was quitting her job at the Leaky Cauldron. Not long after Fred and George aided as always by Lee (**A/N **in this story Lee also dropped out of Hogwarts at the same time as the twins) descended on her apartment almost every day to help her sort through the piles of prototypes of charms and spells she had created and decide what they could reproduce and sell when the shop opened the next week. In reality only her and Fred did any sort of work. George managed to take one small errand like finding tape from the kitchen and stretching it into a two hour long ordeal involving losing is right pant-leg to a raccoon and being chased by an angry family of goblins. Whereas Lee spent the entire time flirting mercilessly with Renee's roommate Emma, who paid him little attention, out of obliviousness or disinterest Renee wasn't sure, but whatever it was only made Lee try harder. Understandably of course, Emma was drop-dead gorgeous, petite with strawberry blonde hair in a short pixie cut and smile that could dazzle anyone. Emma was determined to become a world class healer, and was currently doing her internship at 's, and barely managing to hold together a relationship with her on again off again, demanding, insecure, jealous, free-loader of a boyfriend, Tyler. But that's just what Renee thought of him., and she wouldn't dare saying all that to Emma.

Renee was surprised at how easily she bonded with the witty red-heads. It took Emma most of the week to be able to tell the two a part, and she had developed the odd habit of peering a little too closely at their faces as she talked to either one of them to make sure that she was talking to the twin that she thought she was. Renee on the other hand could tell them a part within ten minutes of meeting them that first day. For one thing Fred had way more freckles, much more green in his hazel eyes and a tiny scar on his forehead just above his eyebrow. Renee hadn't quite been able to figure out how he had gotten it, every time she asked he would tell her a different story, each one more obscure and outrageous than the last. It started out relatively small but still questionable, he got it in bed (if you know what he means), then he was fighting a hippogriff, then a basilisk, then he got it when narrowly escaped an angry giantess who was in love with him, and had caught him with a veela. Renee would always laugh, probably encouraging his shenanigans and eventually gave up.

Emma insisted that these were all incredibly small and impossible details to tell the twins a part. So one day in that first week when they had been visiting Renee and Emma's apartment quite frequently Emma charmed a small red dot onto George's forehead so as to know which one was which. This of course caused problems when George went into the bathroom, noticed a strange red blot on his forehead and thought someone was trying to snipe him, and then proceeded to lock himself in their pantry (which was a very small closet off of the kitchen). By the time they had gotten him out he had eaten all of their snacks and was only slightly convinced someone wasn't trying to kill him afterall. It turned out that Emma's charming abilities were much stronger than she thought because the charm didn't wear off until three days later.

The hours they spent together setting up shop, taking inventory and occasionally trying out the products made them fast friends. Lee would stop by after his stint of work at the Quidditch supplies shop down the street to help and distract them from the work they had to get done.

Finally, literally the hour before the shop was set for it's grand opening, Fred, George and Renee finished setting everything up. The three were slumped over the counter not long after they had put out their flashing spinning OPEN sign when the awoooga horn on their door chimed to signal that their first customer had walked in. It was an elderly couple who looked slightly taken aback at the bright colors and constant movement on the shelves of the shop, the wizard actually took a step back towards the door before being welcomed exuberantly by Fred, George and Renee.

"Welcome to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes!" The three said in unison.

"What can we get for you good sir, and kind lady?" George asked tipping an imaginary hat towards the bewildered couple.

"Eheeeemmm, ahhuuuurrm, heeeeeee." Wheezed the man.

"It's alright dear, don't overexert yourself, I'll tell them and I'm sure they'll be able to help us, don't you fret. What my husband here is trying to say is that we're looking for the apothecary. His wheezing has become quite unbearable these last few months and we saw this shop and thought that there might be something in here that could help?" The elderly woman answered in a quavery voice.

"Well, actually, you see, the thing is . . ." Renee began hesitantly not wanting to cruelly disappoint this sweet couple, before quickly being cut off by Fred.

"What Renee is trying to say I believe is that we would be delighted to help you" Fred continued.

"We would?" George and Renee exclaimed, looking incredulously at Fred, who artfully ignored them a twinkle of mischief in his eyes and a small smile playing around his lips.

George naturally seemed to already know through some sort of twin telepathy what Fred had in mind and immediately jumped to play along. Renee could only guess and the possibilities of tricks and shenanigans that Fred might pull seemed endless so she just kept her mouth shut and watched the amusement unfold.

An hour and a half later Fred was being hugged enthusiastically by the old woman, or Betsy as she was insisting they call her as the couple left the shop.

"Now remember to rub that ointment on Bud's chest and his wheezes will be gone in no time. And tell me how you like the nosebleed nougats, I hope they get you out of bridge at that insufferable Jodie's house! And tell your friends about us!" Fred called after them as they plodded down the street. He turned back slowly to the other two, a look of victory and gloating on his face. They erupted into cheers. Renee was squished in a Weasley twin sandwich, which though she wouldn't admit it if she was asked, was easily one of her favorite places to be.

"We did it! Well you did it really Fred." Renee exclaimed as soon as she had room enough to breathe. "That was brilliant! I can't believe you sold them a salve for his wheezes and four other products to boot!"

"Well you know, it's a God given talent, that and my devilish good looks." He replied with an impish grin. Renee smacked him on the arm and gave him a mocking look. "But in all honesty I think it was that charmed record player of yours that cinched the deal." Fred finished.

"Aw shucks Fred, I guess I'm a necessary part of this shop after all!" Renee teased him, mostly to hide her true embarrassment at the compliment and how good it made her feel.

"Brilliant sale and all brother, but lets just hope that not all of our customers smell of mothballs." George interjected.

"I don't care, it's our first sale! I couldn't care less if those were they only customers we ever got, I could die happy, we're officially in business!" Renee exclaimed and slumped down over the counter, endlessly happy.

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Review review review! Still to come- action and adventure on the high seas! (it's possible, you'll never know unless you keep reading!)


	4. Chapter 4

Over the next couple of months Renee could hardly think of anything else but the shop. After that first day the traffic in and out of the shop increased ten fold, not to mention all the mail orders that had to be sorted for students in Hogwarts, as well as Beauxbatons and various other European wizarding schools. And with every hour of work Renee grew closer to the twins, Fred especially caught on to her subtle innuendo and jokes and also managed to notice when she was overworking herself into an exhaustion and would then force her to sit down in the stockroom away from the hustle and bustle so that she could have a minute to breathe, and on the rare occasion that he ran out of energy she would do the same for him. The twins never ceased to amaze her; they were like the ever-ready bunnies, constantly laughing, plotting and moving around in a blur of copper hair.

Before Renee knew it summer closed in on them and the shop was even busier if that was at all possible. At the same time however a looming sense of dread that came from the acceptance that Lord Voldemort had in fact returned, had settled over the entire wizarding community, a dark shadow that lurked around corners, just out of sight, and followed you everywhere, ready to dampen any glimmer of hope or joy. Fred, George and Renee worked tirelessly to counteract that darkness of despair with outrageous hilarity. Their humor was a much-needed antidote, however the hectic demands that their popularity caused forced them to have to hire an additional person to work around the shop.

After putting out an ad in the Daily Prophet as well as a large sign in their window, they had a list of applicants nearly 25 people long. And then the interviews began. Their first interview was ironically enough with Bud, the man who had come in on that first day of business thinking that they were an apothecary. Despite his age he was ridiculously energetic, the credit of which he gave to their products, and very enthusiastic about the prospect of coming out of retirement to work for them. George almost hired him on the spot, but instead they made the decision to wait to talk to a few other applicants. Twelve interviews later Renee was seriously regretting not hiring Bud outright despite his age and the fact that she wasn't sure he still didn't know that this wasn't in fact a health clinic.

"I think that last one was a troll." George groaned, slumping in his chair in the backroom they were using as an interview room

"Nope, ogre, definitely ogre." Fred replied.

"Crud muffin! Isn't there anyone at least halfway decent and acceptable who's interested in this post?" Renee lamented as she leaned against the wall and slid slowly down to the ground.

"Crud muffin?" The twins asked simultaneously. George started cracking up and Fred threw Renee a quizzical and amused look and asked, "You feeling alright there Ren?"

Renee glared back at him and stuck out her tongue. "This is all your fault you know" she accused.

"Oh yes? Pray, do tell." Fred replied plopping down on the floor in front of her and proceeding to looking ingenuously interested. George sat down next to his brother and took on the same fascinated look as his brother. Both of them stared her down unblinkingly with a slightly creepy half smile on their faces.

"Yes. That one girl, whosiewhatshername, was really qualified and genuinely interested in the job until you gave her that canary cream! Then she flew all around the room while you lot laughed your asses off and I had to catch her and turn her back."

"Yeah, she wasn't too keen on the job after that was she?" George recalled smiling at the memory, "but you can't deny that was hilarious."

Fred leaned in and rested his hands on Renee's shoulders, "Renee, I am so sorry for your loss. I can tell you were deeply connected to whosiewhatshername," Renee fought to keep her scolding look even as her frustration with the Fred was melting quickly away. "But I promise," Fred continued, "to make it my life goal, to find her replacement!"

"Or at least the goal of the next twenty minutes," George put in.

"We will search through field and valley, battle ogres and giants, dive to the bottom of the deepest ocea-" Fred continued to rant before being cut off by Renee and George simultaneously covering his mouth. Fred retaliated by catching Renee under the arms and tickling her. Renee gasped and squirmed and was soon being accosted by both twins. The three rolled around on the ground for a few minutes as Renee tried to escape the torture while laughing uncontrollably, until they were interrupted by a timid knock.

The three froze in rather awkward positions, George with Fred in a headlock and Fred holding Renee around the middle as she grabbed his leg. A young woman stood in the doorway looking confused. She was tall and had long almost white blonde hair; she looked like a Swedish model. Renee later found out that she actually had done some muggle modeling in Sweden.

"Am I in the right place?" She asked hesitantly in a breathy voice.

Fred, George and Renee carefully untangled themselves from each other as George replied, " Yes, of course, sit down and we'll start the interview."

Her name was Verity Pearce, she was from Ireland, her Uncle apparently had created Fizzing Whizbees and she had spent every summer since she was sixteen working for him in a local joke shop as a clerk. She spent the entire interview smiling seductively and laughing excessively (and quite unnecessarily Renee thought) at Fred and George and everything they said.

After she left, with lingering hugs and thanks to both the twins and an obnoxious finger wave to Renee, the three turned to one another to discuss.

"Blimey, but wasn't she something." George said, looking slightly shell-shocked.

"Oy! You have a girlfriend you dolt! Angelina? Remember? " Fred exclaimed smacking is brother in the forehead. "Besides she was clearly more interested me! I am the better looking twin after all" George, naturally started to argue.

Renee rolled her eyes and sighed, feeling an unexpected pang of jealousy shoot through her. "She wasn't into either of you wankers, she just wanted the job. Which quite frankly I'm not so sure she's right for," she interjected sharply.

"I knew that anyway." George muttered.

"Well sexual interest aside, you can't deny she's qualified. There wasn't anyone else we interviewed with references like that. I think we've found our clerk." Fred said cheerily, all ego deflation forgotten.

"Agreed!" George exclaimed heartily. The two then turned to Renee waiting for her opinion.

"I suppose so, " she conceded reluctantly. Watching the two guys she had grown so close to talk animatedly to one another, Renee couldn't help but to feel uneasy about the slightly manipulative, and beautiful girl they had just hired into their daily lives.

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A/N New chapter coming soon! Review please and tell me what you think!


	5. Chapter 5

One Saturday night a week or so later Fred, George (who had brought along Angelina), Lee, Emma, Tyler and Renee were all sprawled across the worn out couch and overstuffed chairs of Renee and Emma's apartment, drinking butterbeer and relaxing. Renee immediately liked Angelina and her no nonsense personality. She was the perfect counterpart to George and his impish, sassy comments. They always seemed to be laughing together at some unspoken joke. George was himself around her, only more so, happier, funnier, more caring. It was sweet to watch them interact, it made Renee's heart hurt just a little bit in the best possible way. Those two were sharing an armchair; Tyler, Emma and Lee were on the couch with Lee shooting nasty looks at Tyler when his back was turned as he possessively put his arm around Emma. Renee noted that Emma was looking particularly uncomfortable and unhappy. Fred was sprawled out on the last armchair, almost large enough for two, but not quite. Renee stood after bustling around in the kitchen, hovering for a minute slightly outside the circle of friends, unsure of where to sit.

"Well come on Naynay, sit down already!" Fred cajoled her playfully. Renee laughed at the ridiculous nickname and went to perch herself unsteadily on the arm of Fred's chair. As they continued to chat Renee felt herself slipping slowly down into the chair. She tried her hardest to stay perched precariously on the arm, but to no avail. She could feel herself sliding down onto the unsuspecting occupant of the chair below, Fred.

"My dear, it would seem as though you are slipping." Fred commented quietly to her, the rest of the room unaware of their conversation.

"How very astute of you, Fred."

"Well, why don't you just come all the way down," he asked, snaking his arm around her waist and pulling gently down, "this chair is big enough for the two of us. Unless of course you've been sneaking fever fudges, those things are an atrocity for one's figure," Renee smacked his chest and laughed as she settled down next to him, her legs draped casually over his, "George would know" he added a little louder.

"Hey! I take offense to that!" George protested from across the room.

"Did you even hear what he said?" Renee asked incredulously.

"Well . . . no, but whatever it was, I take offense to it!"

As everyone laughed and continued on in their conversations, Renee was distinctly aware of Fred's arm around her still, and his other hand resting softly on her leg, just above her knee, and most of all, aware of the sense of breathlessness that this caused in her. Emma caught Renee's eyes amidst the talking and smiled, raising her eyebrows suggestively. Renee felt herself flush and stood up abruptly.

"I'm going to get some chips," she announced to no one in particular. Once in the kitchen she shook her head, trying to clear herself of the foreign fluttery feeling. Trying very hard to think of nothing at all, Renee reached for a big bowl on the top shelf of a kitchen cabinet and missed by miles.

"Here let me help," a familiar voice said from behind her. She turned to see Fred leaning nonchalantly against the refrigerator. She hadn't heard him follow her in, and she wasn't sure if she was glad or not that he had. "Which one do you need?" he asked moving forward.

"That red one, waaaay up there."

He put one hand on the counter on one side of where Renee was leaning and the other one reached up to pluck the bowl easily from it's resting place.

"Thank you," she said in an almost whisper. He looked down, their faces separated by a few short inches. Renee could feel the heat from his body, radiating off of him and engulfing her. As she stared up at him, her ability of speech became completely disabled by the feeling of fluttering and breathlessness that once again took over her body. Yet she couldn't help but to notice just how long his lashes were, or that he smelled like cinnamon.

"What did you say?" Fred asked, smiling and raising one quizzical brow, still unmoving from his position immediately in front of her. She blushed again as she realized she had said that last thing out loud.

A sound of breaking glass and a sharp voice from the living room seemed to break the spell. They moved away from one another as Lee, George and Angelina entered the kitchen. Renee released a breath she didn't know she had been holding, and she couldn't help but think, before they were interrupted had Fred been starting to lean in?

"What's going on?" Renee inquired, studying their worried and uncomfortable facial expressions.

"Tyler dropped his bottle and it broke and now him and Emma are fighting." Angelina put in, "It almost seemed as though he wanted a reason to fight." Emma frowned, worried and upset for her best friend and roommate.

"So we're hiding out here until it dies down a bit." George concluded, as they all tried not to listen to the angry voices emanating from the living room. "If that's alright," he added, giving a quizzical look to Renee and his brother.

"Fine! Just fine," Renee assured them, she looked at Fred to see him just smiling calmly. A few minutes later they heard a door slam and Emma walked into the kitchen, her mouth set in a firm line and her cheeks tear-stained.

"Are you alright?" Renee asked gently moving forward.

"I'm fine" she said curtly, " let's talk about something else."

"Er, like what?" George asked slowly.

"Well, Renee and I need to rent out our spare room. Do any of you know someone who needs a place to live? We've been looking for a week and haven't had any luck."

Renee grimaced; remembering the unfortunate situation their landlord had put them in last week. For no apparent reason he had decided to up their rent, making it nearly impossible for Emma and Renee alone to meet given the income they were both earning. Luckily they had a spare room in their apartment. When they rented it, it wasn't actually counted as a bedroom because it was so tiny, with one dingy window that looked out onto the lovely view of a back alley. Emma and Renee had been using it as a storage room, mostly for Renee's inventions, however now they were being forced to rent it out. But up until this point they had had absolutely no luck finding anyone who was remotely willing to live with them.

"Well actually, I do know someone who needs a place to live." Lee said thoughtfully after a couple of seconds.

"Wait, seriously?" Emma asked, her face lighting up.

"Yeah," he replied smiling, "Fellow we know from Hogwarts, Oliver Wood."

"Oh, what's old quidditch obsessed Wood up to?" Fred asked, sounding moderately interested

"He's starting goalie for Puddlemere United now, but he needs a place London to live so that he's closer to where they train, apparently they've really upped the security because, well we all know why, because of the bloody death-eaters. But the point is, he can't apparate in anymore. So I think he'd be interested."

"Thank you so much Lee!" Emma cried, hugging him tightly. Lee looked stunned but pleased and proceeded to hug her back.

"No problem at all. I'll let Wood know that he can live with you two lovely ladies."

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A/N Next chapter- Oliver Wood is thrown in the picture! Feedback is always appreciated!


	6. Chapter 6

Despite their odd and tension filled encounter in the kitchen Renee and Fred's interactions showed no sign of changing over the next week. They continued on working, joking, and talking like they always did. Renee started to feel like she had imagined the entire encounter. She took to peering closely at Fred as was talking trying to decipher any hidden meaning in his words to explain the obvious sexual tension that simmered between them unacknowledged and unexplained. But as hard as she tried she could not find any insinuation or double meaning when he told her "Renee, we're out of fireworks, can you write that down so we can remember to make a double batch this weekend?" or "Renee, this customer would like to know more about your line of joke doorbells" and especially not from "Renee! That idiot over there decided to test a Puking Pastille in the middle of the store, can you grab something to clean it up?"

As much as it seemed as though she had imagined the entire scenario and the electrified air that followed Renee knew she couldn't have because for the next week Emma wouldn't stop pestering her about a possible romance between her and Fred. Renee always insisted that there was nothing going on and that they were just friends, and on top of that he was her boss. And the thing was, that was the truth, nothing was going on. Renee didn't even know if she wanted something to be going on for that matter.

"But what if he wants something? What if he's interested in you? What if he was your soul mate?" Emma asked her one night as they were preparing dinner.

"Yes, but more likely what if he doesn't? Look I can't physically wrap my mind around all these possibilities." Renee replied. She took her frustration out on the carrots she was chopping for a salad.

"But what if -?'

"I can't live in what ifs Emma."

"Exactly, you should act. Find out for sure, there's no uncertainty in actions. Just go up to him and kiss him, and then he'll take you into the back room and-" Her words were cutoff by Renee sticking a piece of carrot in her mouth. Emma had a secret love of trashy muggle romance novels and therefore seemed to believe that huge romantic gestures were a normal every day thing in the muggle world and that this huge profession of love was always appreciated and reciprocated and then immediately followed by raucous lovemaking.

"Or, I do nothing. Just pretend it never happened." Renee concluded, feeling cowardly "Besides, that's what Fred's doing." Emma scowled, clearly disagreeing but knowing not to press her stubborn friend any further.

"Lets change the subject." Renee pleaded, feeling uncomfortable and unsure.

"I think Tyler and I broke up." Emma said quietly.

"Oh! Are you alright? What happened?" Renee asked gently, immediately putting an arm around her friend. Despite her severe dislike for Tyler, Renee did her best to sympathize with her friend.

"It's alright really!" Emma exclaimed, the tears welling up in her eyes betraying her. "We've been fighting so much lately, and yesterday we got in this huge fight. He thinks I haven't been spending enough time with him!" Renee's eyebrows went up but she said nothing. Emma spent practically every hour she wasn't working and 5 nights a week at Tyler's.

"He asked me to move in with him, and I said I didn't want to. Then he got mad and accused me of cheating on him! Can you believe it?" By now Emma's tears had been replaced by outrage at the memory of the accusations. "He told me he wanted me to stop hanging out with you and Fred and George and Lee. Pretty much he that I was no longer allowed to have any male friends. He gave me this huge ultimatum, that it was either him or you guys." The tears had returned in full force and Renee wrapped her arms around her friend and stroked her back, gently shushing her until she had calmed down.

"I chose you guys, obviously." Emma whispered.

Renee smiled. "I'm glad."

"I know he wasn't perfect, but he was still my boyfriend you know?" Emma explained after Renee released her.

"I know, but you'll find someone else. You deserve to be treated better. Lee will have a field day when he finds out, he's so into you it's ridiculous." Renee smiled at the thought.

"Well actually, he sort of already knows." Emma said abashedly.

"What?!? How did he find out before me?"

"Well last night after Tyler and I fought and broke up I went sat down on the curb outside his flat and bawled. Apparently Lee lives around there because he was walking by and saw me. He took me to get a cup of tea and listened to me as I explained to him what happened. He comforted me He was just so patient, understanding and sweet." Emma explained, not looking up her eyes fixed on the stove as she stirred a pot of pasta.

"Oh, I see." Renee was flummoxed, but couldn't help herself from grinning a little bit at what could be a good thing for her friend. She liked Lee a hell of a lot better than Tyler, that's for sure.

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Renee was unsure of when their new roommate was moving in, but she barely had time to consider it because the shop was now busier than ever. Renee left the apartment as the sun was rising and usually wouldn't get back until after dark, falling into bed, asleep before she hit the pillow and then repeating the same routine the next morning when she woke up again.

It was on one of those days that Renee got back particularly late from the shop. As she was stepping in her front door she heard a strange rustling coming from the kitchen and the sound of a large figure moving about. Renee remembered that Emma was working at 's tonight and slowly drew her wand. Her exhausted mind immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion, there was a Death Eater in her kitchen. Her mind raced over all the self-defense spells that she knew as she creeped towards the sound. She rounded the corner and saw a tall man in red cloak bending down to look in the fridge.

"Stupefy!" Renee yelled as she jumped around the corner. Her wand promptly turned into a herring. "Shit!" She had grabbed a joke wand from the shop. The man stood up and looked at her with an extremely confused expression on his face.

"Get out, you bloody Death Eater!" Renee yelled chucking the herring at him. With an exclamation of surprise and outrage he threw his arms up and tried backing away into the living room and towards the door. Renee fumbled for her real wand with one hand while the other grabbed objects from around the kitchen and continued throwing them at the intruder while yelling obscenities. An onion hit him in the stomach and a ladle hit him in his mouth. When she pulled the frying pan he grabbed her arm attempting to wrestle it away from her.

"Oy, who are you and why are you throwing produce at me?" he exclaimed "And I am not a Death Eater!" he added as he wrenched the frying pan away from her. Thankfully by this time she had grabbed hold of her wand and promptly pointed it at him.

"Well then who are you? And why are you in my apartment?" Renee demanded, frowning at the intruder.

"I'm Oliver, I live here. I moved in yesterday morning actually." He replied touching his lower lip and wincing a little when he felt the small gash that Renee's ladle had created. "And I'm going to take a guess and say you're Renee?"

Renee lowered her wand, "Yeah, sorry about that. But you can understand right?"

"Well sure, strange bloke in your kitchen. Why wouldn't you throw a herring hat him?" he smiled good-naturedly. "But didn't Emma tell you that I had moved in?"

Renee thought for a second, it was possible she supposed. She blushed, vaguely remembered Emma mentioning something to her the other night about Oliver but Renee must have dozed off as Emma was telling her. "She may have . . ." Renee replied cautiously, "but things have been pretty hectic for me lately." She tried to excuse herself lamely, thinking of the awful first impression she had just made on her new roommate.

Oliver laughed, "Well no worries. But I do think we got off on the wrong foot. Can we start over? I'm Oliver" he held out his hand. For the first time Renee noticed that he spoke with a distinct Scottish lilt. She took his hand and smiled, reassessing her one time intruder and now new roommate. He was tall, not quite as tall as the twins but still at least a head taller than Renee, with the lean, toned muscles of an athlete. He had tousled brown hair and deep brown eyes, his mouth curled up at the corners naturally. His warm and callused hand engulfed hers.

"Good to meet you Oliver."

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**A/N – Hooray Oliver! I know there's no Fred in this chapter, but he'll be back in the next one I promise! So this story has had a lot of hits but very few reviews, I don't want to beg, but please please please review! Really, I'll take any feedback!**


	7. Chapter 7

Oliver as it turned out, was a wonderful roommate. He was quiet, considerate and rarely at home. His schedule for Puddlemere United kept him busy during the week. He seemed to be constantly rushing off for practice, press conferences, physical therapy with the team's medi-wizards and of course games. Despite his hectic schedule he worked hard that first week he was living with Emma and Renee to prove his worthiness as a roommate. Although Renee rarely saw his face she did notice his impact on the apartment, dishes were always clean, a pot of fresh coffee was waiting for her every morning when she woke up, and the shoes and jacket that she would kick off at the front door magically appeared outside her bedroom door, it was like having a house elf!

One weekday morning about a week after Oliver had moved in Renee woke up to the most gloriously enticing smell. Bleary eyed she stumbled out of bed and into the kitchen to find a shockingly cheerful and awake Oliver standing over the stove…making pancakes.

"Good morning!" he said, grinning at her, "you look like you could use some coffee."

She nodded groggily and gratefully accepted the mug he passed her. She leaned against the frame of the door to the kitchen, holding the warm cup between her hands, sipping the wonderful liquid.

Oliver had gone back to the frying pan and was skillfully flipping a large pancake over in the air using one hand. He seemed to be enjoying himself immensely. He caught her eye after the pancake had landed and winked.

"Not bad, eh? My older brother is married to a muggle chef, and she taught me a few tricks. I'm sure I could have done it quicker by magic, but it is so much more satisfying this way. And I think it tastes better too!"

He looked at her quizzically. "You're not much of a morning person are you? You haven't lost your voice have you?"

She shook her head sleepily. Her brain couldn't process so much conversation so early in the morning. Her tongue felt useless, she wasn't used to having to speak to anyone before she'd had at least 2 cups of coffee.

He smiled at her. She was glad he didn't seem to find her silence rude.

He slid a few flapjacks onto two plates, and placed them on the small breakfast bar. He sat down in front of one, put a copious amount of maple syrup on it and then looked back up at Renee.

"Well, come on! Eat up! They're better when they're hot."

Bemusedly Renee walked over and plopped herself down in front of her plate, added a liberal amount of syrup and then dug in. They were amazing.

"Seriously, is there anything you can't do?" she said, mouth full of pancake.

He chuckled. "She speaks! Maybe they are magic pancakes afterall, I thought you may have lost the ability to speak! And yes, there's plenty I can't do. So the pancakes are all right then?"

"Brilliant," she replied.

"So why are you up so early? I'm not used to seeing you in the mornings." He asked.

"I was tricked, I have to open the shop today" she mumbled. Now that the shop was doing so well they had decided to expand their hours, which meant opening earlier. Neither Renee nor the twins were very good morning people so Fred had suggested that it was only fair that they draw straws to see who would have to take the first shift. She had been disappointed to look down and realize that she had drawn the short straw. It was only 15 minutes later when she had picked up the other discarded straws that she realized that they were all the same length and Fred and George had stealthily charmed theirs to look temporarily longer. She had stormed into the stock room to confront them, but found that both twins had slipped away early and left her a note that read

"Dearest, darlingest Renee, thank you so much for opening the shop tomorrow. We convinced Verity to come in early so you don't have to be there alone!

Love and kisses

Your employers

p.s. please be quiet when you open up tomorrow, we need our beauty rest"

She had fumed and stomped and kicked the wall and then immediately regretted it because it made her foot hurt. Verity. Ugh. She had been working for Weasley Wizard Wheezes for 2 weeks and Renee had yet to have a good interaction with her. Renee had tried to be friendly and welcoming despite her initial hesitations about hiring Verity, but every interaction was met with a sneer. She could not figure out what she had done to elicit such rudeness. Verity refused to take any direction from Renee and would in fact go out of her way to make Renee look bad. Yet two minutes later she would be fawning over the twins, complimenting their muscles and intelligence at every turn. It drove Renee mad that Fred and George could not see what a horrible employee she was simply because she spent so much time flirting with them.

Renee sighed and looked up from her pancakes. Oliver was looking at her intently and she realized she had been silent for a long stretch of time, brooding over the Verity problem.

"Well that does sound like the twins," Oliver said, grinning "I can't tell you the number of times they jinxed me to try and get out of early morning quidditch practice. I once woke up to find that my sheets had wrapped themselves around me so tight that it was like a straightjacket! I ended up hopping down to the quidditch pitch that morning."

Renee laughed, and began to feel a little less bitter towards the twins and their hoodwinking of her. It sounded like Oliver had endured a lot worse.

"Crap, I've got to get going" she said, checking her watch. "Thanks for breakfast and commiseration Oliver!"

"Anytime" he said grinning at her "let's do it again sometime."

Renee grabbed her bag and keys and turned on the spot, yelling her goodbye as she felt the darkness and nothingness of apparition envelop her. She arrived only 5 minutes before the shop was supposed to open, but there were still at least 10 prospective customers lingering outside the door. She unlocked the door, flipped on the lights and flashing open sign and her day began.

Verity, of course didn't show up until 2 hours after the shop had opened, and spent the next couple of hours painting her nails at the counter and ignoring any customers that had questions. Between helping customers and Around noon, Fred emerged from the staircase that led up to the flat above the shop looking annoyingly chipper.

"Morning Renee, Verity!" He said, nodding at each of them in turn.

"Good morning Mr. Weasley, can I get you a cup of coffee?" Verity asked. Renee rolled her eyes.

"That's alright Verity dear" Fred answered, "Why don't you go help that customer that just came in?"

"Right away!" she replied.

"What a helpful girl," Fred commented. Renee turned and glared at him only to find his eyes twinkling.

"You tricked me, you tosser," she spat at him, "and you made me work all morning with Verity, you know we don't get along very well! You owe me!"

Fred sighed dramatically. "You're right, I'm a horrible person." He slumped over the counter and began to fake sob.

Renee scowled at him. He continued to sob and was beginning to draw stares from the customers in the shop. Renee put her hand on his shoulder.

"Come on now, that's enough"

"Ohhhhhhh!" he moaned, throwing himself to the ground. "I've hurt you, whatever will I do? How can I make this up to you? HOWWWWWWWW? I will do anything for your forgiveness!"

He crawled on his hands and knees to her feet and stared up at her. She was impressed to see that he had managed to produce tears through his antics.

"Alright! Alright!" She said, half laughing, half exasperated. "How about you buy me lunch?"

Fred hopped up, smiling "I'll do you one better, I'll make you dinner." He kissed her on the cheek and turned around to help a customer.


End file.
